Loving What You Fear
by IggyWiggy92
Summary: You've had your share of problems, but after the barrier broke last year, your deep rooted fear of monsters has surfaced again. You've made progress, but suddenly monsters started invading your personal life, and you're not sure how to handle it all. SansXReader, lots of Disney references, reader is genderfluid (biologically female), Frisk is mute.
1. Ch 1: Prologue

Author Notes: Hello! I just want to quickly fill you in before you start on another fanfic adventure so here's some quick notes:  
-This is a SansXReader fanfic, just wanted to remind you of what you're getting into here  
-I added some characteristics to you as the reader (a lot of which you will find out as you read), but major characteristics that I defined you as the reader is as follows:  
-You are genderfluid (biologically female)  
-You have terrible eyesight (yes, we're busting out some glasses on you)  
-I hope you're a Disney fan, if not well you're gonna be anyways  
-You suffer from Anxiety Disorder and Monster-phobia (not the hating kind, but the fear of monsters)  
-I will attempt to cover other fanatic stuff to the reader such as some anime, cartoons, movies, etc, but you will mostly be seeing a lot of Disney references  
-Frisk is mute  
-Finally, there will be no smut in here. Sorry, no detailed sexy times, frick frack, or however else you want to call it. I may write some heated situations but it won't go any further than some possible hand exploration during a make-out session. On the plus side, this will then lead into a "morning after" scenario, which will allow your imagination to go bonkers to fill out the in-between portions of it all, so awesome right?

Well I hope you enjoy! Send me reviews so I know whether to continue or not

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The sounds of birds chirping and cars driving by came into your consciousness as you were suddenly aware of the blinding sun that cracked through the window from behind your curtains. You proceeded to cover your face with your blanket before reaching your hand out for the phone on your bedside table. 10:05 AM. Well, you've slept in later before, but at this point your mind was already more awake than asleep, so you decided it was time to leave your comfortable fortress of solitude and get the day started. This was one of your days off, and it was rare of you to wake up like this, especially after working the closing shift last night, something about this day seemed….right. Whatever the reason, you were still a bit groggy as you put on your glasses and moved around your room to gather some clothes to get dressed in; it might have been warm enough last night to wear JUST your Spider-Man trunks to bed, but you still didn't wanna just walk out of the bedroom and accidentally run into your roommate/best friend looking like that. The two of you were halfway through University, and it seemed almost like yesterday that the two of you decided to band together to find an apartment for yourselves and find the freedom you both desired for so long. It was pretty small, but not up to the point where it was borderline claustrophobic like the University dorms.

Dressed in worn out jeans at this point, you look to your closet for a moment, trying to make your brain focus to figure out how you were feeling today, and what kind of outfit were you willing to put up with today? You had nothing against fashion or wanting to look your best, but your rule of thumb has always been to dress with comfort as your prime deciding factor. You mind started to reel at what kind of day you were planning to have: play video games and continue the journey you started with Sora, Donald and Goofy? Nah, you loved it but you've been at it this week during your free time and you decided you needed to give yourself a break from it. Would you actually break away from the comfort zone that is the apartment and adventure beyond the suburbs? Granted, ever since the announcement of the broken barrier, you never expected that there were monsters living underground, let alone for their existence to be confirmed as a reality rather than a thing told in legends and fantasy. You grew up with a deep fear of monsters (despite how exaggerated they had been in pop culture compared to some of the ones you've seen slowly take over the tv and town), and since the breaking of the barrier it was a hard thing for your bestie to move you out the door.

The only reason you managed to walk out the door was for your classes (although she had to hold your hand the whole way); aside from that you basically molded into a hermit before slowly adjusting to seeing monsters move into your hometown and merge into daily life: some were even attending your school. Sure, you had that one or two monsters who could intimidate you from just a simple glance your way, but as you took mental baby steps getting past your fears, you were slowly adapting to this new lifestyle. Whenever a monster student would startle you with a question or small talk, your anxiety would have a choke hold on you and your initial thoughts were to always run, cry, freeze in place, or to even push the unsuspecting stranger away before your legs gave way; but you were experienced with controlling your anxiety, so although your legs would sometimes shake under you, you would mentally count in your head as you put on a small smile and reply in hopes that it doesn't come off as rude or monster-hating.

You eyes danced along the long lines of t-shirts and other clothing items as you calculated how long you would potentially be out, where you would go, the weather, etc, until you decided on a grey and orange-tinged Pokemon shirt featuring Pikachu, Squirtle, and Charizard on the front with the title. Considering how small you were (in both height and chest size), this shirt was baggy enough so you could easily get away with not wearing a bra, so you lazily pulled it off the hanger and threw it on before opening the bedroom door. You walk into the small hallway to find Laurén's bedroom door open and her bed still messy (a sign meaning she's already awake but still in the apt) before walking down a few steps into the bathroom. You continue your morning routine as you grab the pink star-shaped barrette and pull your long bangs out of your face and place the star on top, thankful that the rest of your hair was chopped off to breath comfortably during the hot days.

Once you were washed up and fully awake, you realize that the outside sounds of suburbia were not the only thing in the air as you walked closer to the living room area. Soft, relaxing music was playing as you found Laurén dressed like she was planning to head somewhere (or maybe came back from someplace?) lying on the couch asleep, her mouth opened so slightly as her long blonde hair was sprawled all over the cushions, her arm hanging from the side as a book was flopped open nearby. You looked to the kitchen area right behind her, you stomach was bugging you for food but you knew that even if you were careful to not make a scene in the kitchen, she would still wake up somehow. Then an idea clicked in your head, a mischievous one….the question though would be if it was worth it? Would it be worth her getting mad after her initial reaction and possibly physically hurting you in the process?...Well, if anything you could always blame it on the Thomas Sanders vines.

You quickly but quietly rush past the couch with Sleeping Beauty and duck behind the counter where the sink was, and peek over to make sure she was still asleep before looking at the sink area. Just like you remembered, the pan you washed last night was still where you left it to dry as you grabbed the handle in one hand and carefully opened the utensils drawer with the other to pull out a wooden spoon. You tip-toe behind the couch as you peer to look over her, double-checking with yourself once again if it was worth the wrath and potential pain to see the result of it all….yeah, totally worth it. Your eyes glue themselves to her face, not wanting to miss a single detail as you start clanging the pan, yelling/singing Tarzan's Trashin' The Camp song. Laurén shot up, her blue eyes wider than anything you have ever seen as her face was overwhelmed with fear, then agony as she covered her ears before you stopped to laugh.

Oh my gosh, your eyes were SO HUGE! You should've-" You stopped talking once you looked up and noticed her eyes shooting daggers at you with one of her most deadliest glares. This was the moment that would decide whether you should die with honor and grace, or die doing something stupid and making it worse before death kissed you in sweet release...your mouth seems to have decided for you. "Frying pans, who knew right?" you quoted as you lightly tap the pan with the spoon and plastering the most charming smile you could muster. Laurén continued to stab you with her glare a bit before she shot her arms out at you in an attempt to grab your face. Luckily, this was your best friend and you knew that this was how she would react, so you laughed maniacally as you ran back to your bedroom, closing and locking the door behind you just as a loud THUMP was heard. "You little piece of shit! Get out of there so I can claw that smug look off of your face!" she yelled as she began to knock and scratch at the door, hissing like a cat in the process of her rage. You must truly love the abuse with this woman, because although you were fearing for your life, you couldn't help but smirk at her attempt to break down the door. TOTALLY WORTH IT.

After falling on the floor to catch your breath and calm your urge to laugh again, you notice Laurén quickly tiring out as well when her knocking and scratching start to slow down and her hisses were struggling to last as long; this was your cue to do what you normally did to calm the wild beast. "Laurén," you spoke clearly, making sure it was loud enough to catch her attention with all the noise (you were sure your immediate neighbors plan to speak to you two about it later) "hey if I open the door, do you promise not to kill me? I haven't eaten yet, so if you let me live another day, I promise to buy you that fancy chocolate you love so much, those Ferrero Rocher ones; hazelnut right?" Silence. You have her attention now, the anger has clearly dissipated enough for her to be considering your peace offering as time seemed to have stood still before there was any sign of her compliance. "...how many are we talking?" "I admit, not one of my smartest or nicest pranks, so I'll buy you one of those large boxes at the local candy shop, sound good?" Silence again before you heard a reluctant "okay" from behind the door. You open the door cautiously to see her glaring again but with no murderous intent from her blue eyes as you deemed it safe to open it completely. She continued to stare at you before pouting and pinching your cheeks from the remainder of her anger as she argued "You're lucky I like you so much". The pain pulsed through your mouth once she released you but you grinned anyways, rubbing at your cheeks "Yeah I know, I'm lucky you're so forgiving too haha".

So, any plans for today?" the blonde asked as she walked back to the living room, picking up the dropped book before plopping onto the couch. "Not in particular, I was thinking of roaming our old hangouts, force myself to go outside" you laughed as you headed back to the kitchen, putting the pan and spoon away and busting out some leftover chocolate chip pancakes from the freezer. "Well I'm glad, it's about time you started to live your life normally. I mean, TECHNICALLY you are and you've come so far since the announcement, but honestly you need to get out there for more than just for school and work now" "Yeah MOM, like what? Video games? Cause GameStop is just around the corner for that, not to mention that they do ship if I order online…" "NO! Not for video games, or chocolate, or anime, or even DISNEY! You're human, what else do we need in life besides the 'bare necessities'?" You chuckled at her pun, it was rare of her to make Disney references like that, but you appreciated it each time she did, it meant that what she was about to say next was something she wanted you to take to heart. "Um, money? Family?" you guessed absently as you sat on the couch next to her and started to cut into your pancakes. "Helloooooo, think McFly! You're the Disney nerd here, what do all of the classic movies emphasize on more than anything?" "...magic?" you thought out loud as you started filling your mouth with fluffy, chocolaty goodness.

The blue-eyed wonder tossed you a look of amazement as if you just said the dumbest thing yet before filling in the gaps for you "Love, dumb butt, I wasn't trying to trick you. You need to find yourself some love out there!" "What? Pfft, get real, I'm am more than content in indulging myself in what I have already. Sure, a raise would be nice to reel in the dough but I'm happy where I'm at in life Laurén! I've got you, I keep in touch with my parents while they're traveling abroad, it's all good~" Laurén smiled softly, her eyes filled with happiness that you would hold her in such high regard, "Well, even if you are happy where you stand, you still need to interact with people more...and monsters. It'd be good for you, whether you fall in love or not. _, you're my best friend, but I worry that every time you take a step forward, you'll only end up 3 steps back locking yourself in the apt. Go out and open yourself to people. Of course, I'm not saying to spill out your life story at the first hello you get, but you need to stop letting your fears and anxiety get the best of you: it's time you fought back." You snorted, a sarcastic smirk gracing your features as you continued to take bites at the pancakes, careful to chew so you don't have to say much. "I know it's something you can't fully comprehend, and I appreciate your advice and concern, but I've been fighting this since middle school...I've been fighting my anxiety and monster-phobia for so long, it gets tempting to give up after a while.." you whisper the last part, your sarcasm erased by sadness before looking up at Laurén. Her face was locked onto you, her expression caught between sadness and shock as if you would break in front of her; you really didn't mean to bring things down so deep like this. You put your hand on her shoulder, making sure not to break eye contact and flash her a genuine and comforting smile, "hey, just cause I say that doesn't mean I intend to lose anytime soon ok? It just wears down on me a lot more than most people, try not to worry so much about it alright? You know how much I hate to lose anyway" you laughed before bringing her into a hug. You feel Laurén's hang rub your back in small circles before breaking the hug to smile at each other. You have had many friends growing up, some of them "best friends", but never such a friendship as you did with Laurén.


	2. Ch 2: The Precious Child

Author's Notes: Hello everyone! Thought it'd be good of me to post the second chapter already since it's fairly short compared to the first one. I hope you all have been enjoying the story so far, leave reviews and let me know if you want me to continue updating it or if you want to leave some feedback as to how I can improve my writing. I would greatly appreciate it all, so enjoy the introduction of Frisk! 

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Just as you were about to bring up the memory to your roommate, you were interrupted by a small knock at the door. "I'll get it" Laurén commented, ruffling your hair as she walked past you towards the door. Your hear the door open as you took your last bite of the pancake before glancing over, curious about the visitor. "Precious baby~" you thought to yourself as you spotted some short brown hair on a small child, who appeared to be wearing a striped longsleeve and denim jeans with simple black sneakers. You couldn't hear anything from the child but you saw some hand and arm movements from them. "Oh! Sign language," you heard Laurén laugh softly before kneeling on one leg, allowing herself to be eye to eye with the kid. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit rusty with this, could your sign a bit slower?" she asked gently, you knew Laurén was a natural with kids as you could see a shuffle of brown hair before the arm movements were repeated in a slower manner. "Kids? No, there are no children living here sweetie, just 2 college students, why do you ask?" Some more arm movements were made before you saw a hand pointing to your childish-looking, hand-crafted Mickey Mouse wreath that was hanging in front of the door. "Oh that!" Laurén laughed, obviously restraining from laughing too hard as she held a hand to her mouth, "There are no kids living here but my friend here is certainly one at heart, they're the Disney fanatic you're looking for" as Laurén stood and stepped aside, allowing the child a clear view of you, just as you now have of them.

The tiny brunette smiled and clapped happily as they surprised both of you by running inside, making themselves comfy on the couch before signing away at you excitedly. "Wh-whoa there buddy, I'm sorry but I'm not very fluent in sign language like she is," you explained, not sure of what to make out of the sudden situation. You glanced up at Laurén, shooting a look of desperate help as she left the door open and made her way to the couch, choosing to sit on the other side of the child as they waited patiently, uncertainty apparent on their face as they also looked at Laurén for help. "I have no problem acting as translator, it's nice to make new friends" She responded, sneaking a glance at you before watching the kid intently as they repeated their hand movements at you, a bit slower this time around. "This cutie says they love your wreath, it looks beautiful, and that they love Disney too", the brown hair flapping excitedly as they nodded in agreement with Laurén's words.

Attention was on you now, your hands began to sweat as your emotions pulled you between the happiness of being in a friendly child's presence who wants to talk about Disney, and worry that you might somehow upset them seeing as how you only knew a few terms in sign language, unsure of how to continue the conversation. "Y-you like Disney huh?" you asked, an awkward smile on your face as the youngster nodded excitedly again, "Yeah? Who's your favorite character then?" you inquired, relaxing a bit as the kiddie thought seriously for a moment before doing some quick hand signs, one you recognized as the letter "G". "'Goofy' is their favorite" Laurén translated, and as you were about to pipe in, she quickly added "Oh I almost forgot to ask, what's your name Cutie Pie?" as the small brunette signed out their name, you recognized an "I" in there this time, or was it a "J"? "Frisk, what a lovely name!" she commented as she glanced at you to say something on the matter. "Your name is Frisk? That's so cool! I wish my name was something as awesome as that!" you replied as Frisk seemed to be beaming from pride. "Well Frisk, my name is Laurén, and this is my roommate and best friend _. It is certainly nice to meet you, sweetie" she finished as Frisk got on their knees to hug Laurén before turning to hug you. The little bugger was very affectionate, not that you had anything against it, you just needed to keep it in mind since you were used to it only from family and occasionally Laurén. "Frisk? Frisk my child, where did you go?" a voice echoed from nearby as a small, happy gasp was heard in your ear before your hug was broken and they scurried off to wherever the voice was. A grin was set on your face as your attention on the door was broken by Laurén's laughter "Well, that was quite the encounter!" she declared as she wiped a non-existent tear from her eye. "Yeah, and I didn't even have to move from the couch for it" you joked as you got up to toss the dishes into the sink.


	3. Ch 3: Dinner Plans

Author's Notes: Hi everyone! Here's the third chapter! I think at this point, I'll be posting once a week, I'll throw in an extra chapter into the week if I have the time but for sure I should be able to do weekly updates on either Fridays or Saturdays, so look forward to it! Enjoy!

You were about to start washing when noises were heard down the hallway, small grunts echoed as a voice started to laugh. "What is it, child? What do you want to show me so badly?" the feminine voice asked as Frisk started to come into view, struggling to pull someone towards your door. _No, please no, I'm not ready, I'm not mentally prepared for this yet..._ your mind pleaded as a tall but beautiful goat woman was pulled through the doorway. "Oh! Hello there, I hope Frisk and I are not intruding on you". "Not at all!" Laurén responded, getting off the couch so she could speak properly to the noble-mannered monster. "Is this your mother?" Laurén asked Frisk, receiving a proud and loving smile in response from them. "It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am, my name is Laurén," she introduced herself as she offered her hand to the parent. "Toriel, the pleasure is all mine dear," she answered as she took Laurén's hand in both of her's and shook it in a motherly manner. "We just moved in 2 doors down late last night. We were unpacking since earlier this morning but Frisk, being such an adventurous child and all, I suppose they decided to get a head start on introducing themselves to the neighbors…" the mother laughed as Frisk smiled a mischievous and prideful grin.

"Haha, well Frisk came by hoping that another child lived here, but the only real child around here is my best friend," Laurén giggled, as Toriel has now taken notice of your presence. At this point, you mentally repeated your introduction for the goat mom, but you were frozen in place as her eyes laid upon you. Although it was very subtle, you've seen it many times from strangers to know that look well. It was the look in their eyes that was attempting to figure out whether you were male or female. Normally you found it hilarious every time it happened, it was a game that never got old for you, but as her gaze sized you up, you couldn't help but feel like she was judging you beyond questioning your sex.

You absentmindedly clutched at your chest for a moment before carefully walking over to the group. You can feel your legs shaking already as you started to mentally chant to yourself _She's Frisk's mother, there's no way that she would hurt you, these monsters are different from the ones you grew up with. She's a mother, she has fur! Furry things are usually soft and nice, right? You have to make a good impression, don't screw this up! Conceal, don't feel, it'll be ok, Laurén is here with you…._ That's right, Laurén IS here with you, nothing can happen while she's with you. With that final thought, you mind was calm and you managed to speak "Hi, my name is _, it's very nice to meet you" as you offered her hand the same way Laurén did. For a second, Toriel had a surprised look at you, which could've gone unnoticed have you not been paying attention carefully enough, as her expression quickly softened to a motherly manner and respectfully shook your hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you _. Frisk seems to be very excited to have made friends with you both, I hope she wasn't imposing on you or anything!" "Oh of course not! I think Frisk and _ will be getting along exceptionally well with their love of Disney to keep them occupied" Laurén chuckled. "Oh yes, I have many movies and coloring books, once you folks are settled in a bit more, Frisk is more than welcome to come by and hang out whenever they want." you offered, as Frisk started jumping in excitement.

"Oh my, that's really kind of you, thank you so much. Since we started the move, I was really concerned about Frisk making friends outside of our family, but it seems that I was worrying for nothing" she chuckled, patting Frisk's head to calm the antsy child, who was already dreaming up of that kind of things they would be able to do with you and Laurén. "Aw, well Frisk is a natural, I'm sure they'll be making all kinds of friends here!" Laurén commented. "Speaking of moving, would you like some help unpacking? I'm sure it'll be easier if you had some extra hands on you" she added. "Well if it's not too much trouble, then I would love the extra help" Toriel accepted as she started to lead Frisk and Laurén out the door.

"Um, I need to run a few errands," you began as everyone stopped a moment to look at you, you were certain that Laurén could see through your lie but then you continued "But, uh, if you guys are still unpacking by the time I get back then I'd be happy to help as well" as Toriel smiled at you, gratitude shining in her eyes. "Alright dear, well our door will be open so when you get back just feel free to come in when you're ready" she said before leaving with Frisk in hand. _Wh-when I'm ready? That's a weird thing to add in,_ you thought to yourself as Laurén came up to you. "Listen, I was thinking of inviting them over for dinner tonight, depending on how much we are able to get done, would that be alright for you? I know it's a huge step considering your fear and all but you did so well with Toriel, I thought maybe we might be able to test the waters and get to know them more?" she whispered, in case Tori or Frisk were to come back. "Dinner?" you repeated out loud as you began to think about the potential scenario. "Well, we're just gonna sit down and eat right? Do a bit of talking?" you asked as Laurén nodded in confirmation. "Well, if it's just that, then I think it'd be ok, she seems nice after all...just don't expect me to talk so much ok? You're probably gonna have to cover for me a lot" you complied, earning a happy smile in return.

"Ok, well in that case, while you're out could you buy some supplies for spaghetti? I figured that pasta is the go-to dish for these types of dinners. Oh, and we ran out of eggs and ketchup, so that'd be good too if you can get that as well..." Laurén continued, "Be careful out there, give me a call if you need help with anything alright? I know I said that you need to get out there but I also don't want you to push yourself into another attack ok? Take care" she added before giving you a quick hug and ran out the door to find Toriel and Frisk. _Gosh you really were lucky to have her around_ , you quipped as you quickly grabbed your phone, wallet, and Adventure Time lanyard with your car and apt keys on it. You were about to walk out when you remembered that Frisk was sporting a long-sleeve, so you quickly grabbed your red hooded jacket and closed the door behind you.


	4. Ch 4: Unexpected Encounter

_**Author's Notes: Hi guys! Well I'm happy that some of you have submitted feedback for this story, it makes me happy knowing that you are all enjoying the direction it's heading in so far. In all honesty, I was hoping to keep this short, but everyday I'm inspired to add more to it, so it might be longer than expected….hopefully that's not such a problem with you all, haha! That aside though, I've been having formatting problems, it's been years since I've uploaded anything to this site prior to this story, so I'm still reacquainting myself with the editing tools. So if all of this still looks messy or confusing, I apologize for it as well as for future mistakes, I still have a lot to learn! Thank you again and please continue to send feedback, I wanna improve and make this story better for everyone! 3**_

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Walking in town was always both the best feeling and the worst. You loved being able to have the sense of freedom of walking and shopping wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted, however you always had a lingering sense of dread and paranoia that always made things less enjoyable when you were alone. Passing by the different shops, you headed to the local grocery store, looking down the aisles for the things you were gonna need for the dinner. You mind began to wander into it's own world as you started thinking of different dinner scenarios, replaying different dinner conversations to have with Toriel. You finally come across the ketchup, and as you readjust the spaghetti materials in your basket and grab a bottle, you feel something grab the bottle/your hand too. The sight of white boney fingers took a moment to register with you as your eyes followed the blue sleeved arm up to their face. The sound of a crash was all you remembered as you fell backwards, your collected groceries spilling out of the now fallen basket beside you. You rubbed the backside of your head (now sitting on your sore butt), accidentally hitting your head on a nearby stack of cardboard boxes filled with product.

Aside from the soreness, you could already feel yourself becoming red at the embarrassment of the situation when you heard a male voice ask "hey kiddo, you alright?". You didn't want to look at the source of the voice, picturing how bad you must look already, but you also didn't want to come off as rude so you looked up only to be reminded as to how you got to this point in the first place. Standing in front of you was not like any other monster you've seen in town before, but an actual, standing, talking, moving skeleton. You can feel you knees getting wobbly and the sudden urge to freeze in place. You fought the oncoming anxiety, reminding yourself of your current position as you nodded politely and turned yourself around so you could grab your things to put back in your shopping basket. From your peripheral vision, you could see the small skeleton kneel down a bit as he grabbed some of your items from the floor to help. You tensed up as he came up to you, offering your pasta and apple juice back. You couldn't help but feel guilty now, a bit of concern on his face as the top of his eye sockets furrowed together like how eyebrows would, but it certainly wasn't his fault that you had this fear your were trying to overcome, he doesn't know your story after all…

Hoping your voice doesn't sound strained, you gave him a small smile before taking your items and almost whispering a "thank you" to him. "Don't worry about it, though you might wanna worry about your food?" he replied, pointing to the pasta in your hand. "Huh?" you dumbly responded, as you began to examine the food in your hand. "Yeah, I think there might be an _IMPASTA_ among us" he concluded, his smile slightly shifted into a smirk as he gave you a quick wink to emphasize his joke. You stared at the strange skeleton man for a moment, your mouth twitching as it threatened to smile. "Did..did you just…" was all you could manage before your mouth gave in and you began to laugh. Overwhelmed by the laughter, you didn't notice that a customer and an employee had already walked by with weird-ed out faces, and neither did the skeleton as he lazily watched you laugh, satisfied that his pun helped to settle the tension from before.

Once you've calmed down, the blood started to rush to your face as you realized you were laughing like a hyena as you instinctively pulled your hood over your eyes. "S-sorry I laughed so hard, I didn't mean to take up your time like this…" you sputtered as you finally stood up from the floor, grabbing the basket in the process. "I don't think there's a reason to apologize for laughing, it's supposed to be a good thing right?" he shrugged before getting up himself. Now that you were calmer now, you took more notice of the guy. He seemed to be a fan of hoodies himself as he were sporting a zipped up, blue jacket with a white hood, though he doesn't seem too concerned about the cold with his black basketball looking shorts on. You managed to stifle a giggle once you glanced down to see him wearing a pair of fluffy slippers, perhaps he was forced outside as well and just couldn't bother to put on some sneakers? He interrupted your thoughts though as he grabbed a bottle of ketchup from beside you, "hey so I'd love to stay and chat, but I gotta go and _KETCHUP_ with my bro", another wink tossed at you as he held up the bottle for emphasis.

He started to walk away before coming to a sudden stop. You could've sworn he took a quick glance your way before he turned at started to walk back to you. _What does he want? Did he forget to get something else from here?_ you questioned before deciding it was not your business and grabbed a bottle off the same shelf. You turn your head only to find him standing in front of you, his cheeks appearing as if they've been stained by the color from his jacket. "H-hey so uh, I don't normally do this but…" he started to speak as he nervously rubbed the back of his skull before taking a deep breath, "well, toss a guy a bone here huh? Wanna trade numbers?" he asked nervously as he offered his phone towards you. Just when you thought you had relaxed, you feel the heat radiating from your face again as you stared at his phone for a minute before the situation hit that he was waiting for an answer. "O-Oh sure! Th-That'd be okay!" you stuttered as you rummaged through your pockets for your phone. You pull it from your pant pocket as you set it up for "new contact" and trade phones with him. You typed in your information, not sure whether to add "weird grocery person" to your name or not before deciding against it and traded phones back with the bone man. "Cool, so I'll catch you later?" he asked, confidence back in his voice, as you nodded your head, your mind still trying to process what is happening right now. "Alright, I'll see you around kiddo" he remarked, winking before finally walking away and out from sight.

Once you knew for sure he was gone, you immediately crouched down to the ground, pulling down on your hood as the heat in your face seems to have intensified. _WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED_?! _There's no way that someone just asked you for your number right now, right_? _Did that seriously happen_? _You didn't even say or do anything to make them like you enough to want to keep talking to you, so how did you even manage to have something like this happen_? After a moment of letting the series of events sink it, you took a deep breath before getting your basket to finish your shopping. _It was a good thing you didn't pick up eggs before getting the ketchup_ , you reminded yourself as you took a quick look at your phone.

" **Bone Man" Sans**

"Sans…" you whispered to yourself, as if testing out the sound of the name without wanting it to accidentally summon him back to you. You safely put the phone back in your pocket, driving away the weird sensation the name gave you as you head to the dairy aisle.


	5. Ch 5: Who is this MAN?

Hi everyone! So first, I wanna apologize for not updating, school and work just got crazy busy, but I'm back! I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this story, it really does mean a lot to me to see the review notifications and the nice things you all have said. I also wanted to make a quick note that the title of the chapter is a reference to Catbug Drama, look it up on youtube if you haven't already ;) enjoy!

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Once you got back to the apartment, you put away all the groceries before meeting up with Laurén and your new neighbors. After the eventful encounter you had with the skeleton monster "Sans", it oddly filled you with determination to further push yourself to overcome your phobia, or at least to an extent of which you could befriend Frisk's goat mother. As you pitched in to unpack the last of their boxes, you conversed with Toriel, slowly growing more comfortable in her presence as you asked each other basic questions such as "what sort of career do you want?", "what type of hobbies do you have?", and "do you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon?". It was such fast progress, even Laurén had to sneak a few glances to make sure that your streak has not ended yet. Once the work was done, everyone went back to your apartment and got comfortable as you offered to cook dinner.

As you started to serve the spaghetti, you glance at the small table where Laurén was having an open discussion (something college related), and for once you felt like you were in bliss. It certainly wasn't everyday that you had visitors of your own, and with Toriel and Frisk officially moved in, a small part of you started to hope that you would have more of these moments in the future. Once everyone had a plate, there was a sudden silence as everyone quietly ate their pasta, their appetite overwhelming from all the unpacking. You normally didn't mind the silence, but considering how you were gone for most of the time, you were not hungry at the same extent as the others, and you were already starting to take comfort in the sound of their conversation…

Suddenly, your nerves started to act up as you were reminded with flashes of your shopping trip. Should you mention it? It would break the silence and certainly make for an interesting chat, but Laurén might make a big deal out of it...Then again, she probably wouldn't, considering the presence of our guests, she usually waits until it was just you two to discuss such "delicate matters". However, you had to remind yourself that in the end, it was only a phone number after all. Sans didn't even mention anything about dating, he was probably just looking to make a new friend whom he thought (for whatever reason) was someone worth talking to. After a few more minutes debating with yourself, you decided that perhaps it was safe to bring up the meeting, after all this was Laurén you were talking about, there's no way she would overreact like a proud mother and embarrass you in front of Frisk and Toriel, right?

"So…" you stuttered

"So," you started as all eyes were suddenly on you. You could feel your doubt crawling on your back as you pushed it in the back of your mind and continued to speak. "I think I made a friend at the grocery store earlier". Laurén, who was drinking her water, then began a coughing fit as she turned her head away from the guests before finally settling down.

"You made a FRIEND? Wait, was it a friend, or a friend? Wait, scratch that, are we talking about a boy or a girl? Nevermind that, oh geez this is HUGE!" Laurén exclaimed, her eyes apparent with excitement. Toriel couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the turn of events, while Frisk started to hop in their seat, Laurén's giddiness rubbed off on them as they stare you down as if to elaborate on the situation.

"W-well, um I ran into him while getting some ketchup. I got so startled by him I accidentally fell over and dropped the food (don't freak out Laurén, the eggs are safe). He helped me pick up the food and cracked some jokes that made me laugh so hard I still feel a bit sore…" you paused as you held your stomach in remembrance.

"AND?" Laurén edged you on, "Did he put any moves on you? Like was he flirty with you? Did he try any cliché pick up lines on you? Cause if those were the "jokes" you were laughing at, then you need to be careful around those type of guys-"

" No no no!" You laughed, interrupting Laurén's rambling before she started another lesson on "boys and flirting 101". "No, he was making some food puns, he was just flowing with them, it was hilarious!" you continued, a huge grin on your face. "Yeah, after that, he grabbed a bottle of ketchup before leaving, but that's when he turned around and...well, asked for my phone number…." you whispered, awaiting the unavoidable.

Sure enough, Laurén squealed joyfully as Frisk got out of their chair and started hopping, holding themselves in place with the table. Toriel was the first to speak after the squealing died down.

"So tell us, who is this mysterious man? Surely he has distinct features, yes?" she giggled. You chuckled nervously, if this was Laurén asking then you could easily evade the question until it was just you two, however with Toriel...well you just didn't want to ruin what you had built up already with her….

"Well," you stuttered, "he's about my height, had a blue jacket with a white hood, black shorts, and was wearing a pair of pink slippers for some reason…." At this point Toriel and Frisk were listening intently with suspicious-looking expressions, Tori leaning in more with each feature said. "And…" you spoke softly, getting lost in your thoughts of the mysterious monster.

"'And'?" Laurén prompted, her gut feeling like you were about to leave out something important.

"And...he's a skeleton monster…." you muttered, your whole body tensing before Laurén finally said anything.

"...What?"

"Y-yeah, he's a skeleton…"

"...you're not joking?"

"No…I'm serious"

"..."

There was a moment of silence, Toriel and Frisk, who were smirking at one another earlier, were now just waiting uncomfortably, wondering if there was a chance these two wonderful neighbors happened to have something against skeleton monsters (not that there were any other than their 2 dear friends), and glancing at you it was obvious you were concerned about your roommate's reaction until finally, Laurén stood up and hugged you tightly. Relief washed over you and your guests as you could feel her large smile against you.

"I'm so glad...you have no idea how happy it was for me to see you talking to Toriel earlier, but for you to also tell me this….I'm so happy for you…" Laurén whispered, her body shaking a bit as she fought to hold back tears, even if they were happy ones.

"Well, I certainly don't want to ruin the moment, but I'm afraid that Frisk and I must be going, it's almost their bedtime." Toriel interjected, reluctance apparent in her voice.

"Oh! I'm so sorry about all of this, I didn't mean to take up your time like this!" Laurén apologized, as she immediately stood up to gather the dishes while you gathered the drinks.

"Oh not at all dear! I fully enjoyed the meal and time spent here, and I'm sure Frisk has as well" Toriel replied, as Frisk nodded happily before making a few hand gestures.

"Aww that's so sweet, Frisk," Laurén then turned to look at you, "Frisk says that the dinner was delicious" she translated.

"Thanks buddy, it's much appreciated" you responded, your heart filled with so much warmth and love, you couldn't help the goofy smirk you were holding as Frisk came to give you another tight hug like from before. Toriel then gave her thanks and compliments on the meal as well before embracing you in a gentle hug. It threw you off, something you were not expecting so soon, but you certainly didn't hate it, as you hesitated at first before finally returning the warm embrace. Warm, a familiar feeling to that of your own mother, you didn't realize how much you missed her and your dad until Toriel broke the hug and you found yourself missing the love and safety Toriel's hug brought. You made a mental note to give your parents a call once you finished cleaning the dishes. Once everyone said their goodbyes and Laurén closed the door behind them, Toriel glanced over at Frisk.

"Well, they should be back with the groceries by now, should we perhaps ask your Uncle Sans a few questions?" Toriel giggled as Frisk gave her an impish grin.


	6. Ch 6: Hot or Cold? Can't Tell

Author's Note: Hi everyone! I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long, but school was craaaaaazy! Now finals are wrapping up for me, so I once again have time to write and bring you all amazing updates! Hopefully I can maintain the weekly/bi-weekly updates like I had originally intended, so please enjoy this next chapter (also if anyone is wondering about the cliffhanger of the last chapter, we're getting to it *wink*). P.S. You all are so wonderful for following this story, I would like to give all of you wonderful readers some sort of special nickname, if any of you have suggestions then please include it in a review or send an ask through my tumblr (my user is iggywiggy92)

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You know it's the end of summer when you work at your favorite toy store and your shift is slow because not many kids have shown up with their parents/families. It would've been a boring day too, if you and your coworker didn't know how to keep busy and have fun during these times.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, it's time for another round of Lip Sync Battle: Disney Edition!" A female voice cried through a makeshift paper megaphone. Despite your attempt at concentration, a smirk managed to creep on your face as your eyes turned to meet challenging chocolate orbs.

"Are you sure you wanna go there? You had a bad time keeping up with me in the last round…" you taunted, your eyes never leaving her gaze when you tilted your head.

"I think the real question is, can you handle 2nd place?" she quipped back without missing a beat.

"Well I wouldn't know, I'm always #1" you remarked as you grabbed a random expo marker from behind a register and winked before nodding for her to head back. A giggle escaped as Janice slips to the inventory room and starts the music on the store's speaker system. A piano can be heard as Janice returned and made herself comfortable behind the register counter.

"Snow grows wide on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen, a kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the queen.." you mouthed along, allowing some of your restrained feelings to flow out. "Let it go! Let it go! And I'll rise like the break of dawn!~" you began to wrap up, taking a quick glance at Janice. She is completely enamoured by your performance, her mouth covered by her hands in complete silence. _I got her where I want her_ you smirked as you approach the grand finale. "Let the storm rage on!~ The cold never bothered me anyway" you finish with the swish of the fairly small Superman cape you were sporting, only to turn around and find Toriel and Frisk standing there clapping.

"That was wonderful _! An amazing performance!" Toriel cooed as Frisk excitedly signed away at you.

"But-how, er I mean why-I just-when did you?...I can explain" you stuttered dumbly as you quickly tossed the cape onto a nearby shelf as if it wasn't obvious you were wearing it seconds ago. You were surely an inconceivable shade of red with your mouth closed shut, trying to look anywhere but at their eyes, even more so now that Janice started to freely laugh her soul out behind you.

"Please do not feel embarrassed my child, that was the best performance I have ever seen, why I dare say that it would even catch Mettaton's fancy to see your performance!"

 _Mettaton? Who-?_

"You're right Frisk, it really was like the princess from the movie was in front of us" Toriel translated when Frisk's hug pulled you out of your thoughts. It wasn't the act of hugging that threw you off, but rather the fact that their hug was surprisingly gentle, comforting even, as if the hug was more than a "I'm proud of you" thing. If there was one thing you noticed working around kids, it's that they can be incredible and humbling at times. You smile gently, embarrassment forgotten, as you move Frisk for a moment to kneel down before hugging them back. "Thank you Frisk, this is exactly what I needed" you whispered as they nuzzled your neck before pulling out from the hug. "So," you coughed a bit awkwardly, "what brings you to the store? Not that I'm not happy to see you two of course" you asked.

"Oh, well Frisk just wanted to see you at the store and to see what kind of toys were available as well." Tori replied, to which Frisk nodded in agreement.

"Oh really? Well if you tell me what kind of toys you like, I can help you find what you're looking for kiddo" you winked as the three of you began down the small aisles of the store.

-Meanwhile at Toriel's Apartment-

DING!

Sans, who was lazily laid on the couch, took a moment before deciding to take out his phone from his shorts pocket. "Hmm, a text from Frisk," he thought outloud as he proceeded to open the message. The text read "Went to surprise your crush at work, came upon this, you're welcome" with a video attachment. "Crush? What was Frisk talking about?" Sans thought to himself " Unless...no, there was no way the kid knew about the human from yesterday...I didn't mention anything about it, not even to Papyrus…". He opened up the video attachment, and there on the screen was you, right in the middle of a performance in a toy store. "Let it go! Let it go!" you mouthed, Sans torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to watch in awe. Whenever your face was shown, it was obvious you were lip syncing with the music, but by the end of the video you had left him breathless.

"Sans! The spaghetti is done and her majesty should be returning with the human soon! Get off the couch and help me set up the table!" Papyrus' voice rang from the kitchen and Sans out of his trance.

"Sorry bro" Sans replied as he saved the video on his phone before tucking it away and headed into the kitchen.


	7. Ch 7: So it Begins

_Hello everyone! So glad that everyone has enjoyed my story thus far! I'm hoping to keep up with my intended schedule of posting weekly updates now that I'm out for holiday, so please look forward to it, 'cause things are starting to get good now ;D and as always, feel free to send reviews for any and all feedback on how the story is going so far, I want to hear your opinions! Thank you so much for the support, I'll see you in the next update! -Iggy_

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"...and before I knew it, it was all over to floor! Needless to say, we ended up buying a batch from the store, there was no way I could make another decent batch with the little time I had, definitely a lesson learned" you concluded, as you walked down the hallway with Toriel and Frisk, approaching their apartment door.

"Oh dear, that certainly does sound like a stressful day" Tori commented, taking a quick glance at Frisk, who was still distracted with the Goofy Tsum Tsum plush you secretly bought at work for them.

"It was, but looking back on it now, it makes for a good laugh with Janice and I, but we don't volunteer to bring baked goods to the work meetings anymore though" you laughed as Toriel stopped in front of her door, chuckling along as she fished for her keys in her purse.

"Well I can understand that, if you like I could probably whip something up for your next meeting" Toriel offered, as she opened the door slightly.

Sans stirred from his sleepy state on the couch, hearing Toriel conversing with someone, probably the kiddo, so he started to get comfortable again...

"Really? Well that Cinnamon-Butterscotch pie you mentioned the other day did sound delicious, I'm sure everyone would love a taste of that!" you replied happily, you were kinda surprised that Toriel was so kind to offer her time to do something for you, and it's only been her third day here. Hearing this new voice, Sans was now uncharacteristically wide awake. Not wanting to be seen yet, he poked his head cautiously from the couch, moving in an awkward angle in order to get a better view of the person.

"I'll be sure to let you know when the next one comes up, we don't have them that often so there's still a bit of time before the next one" you chuckled as you lazily moved some stray hairs out of your face.

Now Sans may not be experienced when it came to the dating scene, mostly because he was content with making Papyrus his priority anyways, but he still knew how to be the perfect gentleman. However, looking at you right now, well...you REALLY got his attention.

"Damn" Sans muttered as he took in your current appearance. Still dressed in you work uniform, you sported a simple red polo shirt, black pants with matching sneakers and suspenders. And although the bangs you pulled back before was now messy with stray hairs, a sign of which an ordinary stranger could tell you just finished work, Sans couldn't help but stare and find it….whew, when did it get hot in the room? In addition to the loose hairs, you face was still a bit shiny from the sweat that comes from working manual labor. Although it would've been obvious that you don't sport some, er, "knockers", let alone for you to be able to show some cleavage, Sans couldn't help but eye the skin showing from the collar you unbuttoned after work (having it completely buttoned was just completely uncomfortable). Still conversing with Toriel, you were interrupted by a tug from Frisk, who was jumping with their arms open (the universal sign of wanting to be hugged and carried), which you were glad to oblige. Frisk took this opportunity to smirk at Sans and quickly signed away, causing Toriel to unsuccessfully hold in a snort.

 **Sans, you're drooling**

Sans felt his sins crawling on his back as he quickly ducked back into the couch, pulling his hoodie over his face in a feeble attempt to push back the heat that was taking over his face.

"Hmm? What's so funny Miss Toriel?" you asked, turning your attention back to her as you kept your hold on Frisk.

"Oh nothing my child, I was just reminded of a joke I heard once, would you like to come inside for a while? I'm sure you must be hungry after working so hard," she replied coolly, smiling almost impishly (though you were probably just seeing things). Sans was continuously swearing under his breath, a death grip on his hood as he tried to decide whether to stay and see you again or to teleport straight to his fairly new room. Toriel chuckled affectionately, "Especially after that beautiful performance of yours...", now it was your turn to blush.

"Ha ha, I'd love to but I have to take a raincheck on that. I need to take care of a project I'm working on, plus I think it's best I go shower anyways; I don't wanna come in and stink up the place after all" you answered nervously, still fighting to restrain the heat from your face.

"Ah that's right, well then I won't take up anymore of your time, but if you need anything my child then please feel free to knock on our door alright?" Toriel responded as you hug Frisk again before putting them down.

"I surely will, thank you ma'am," you politely replied with a slight bow before walking away and searching your pockets for the apartment key. Once Toriel closed the door behind herself and Frisk, she walked towards the couch, where Sans was hiding-er SLEEPING, his hoodie covering most of his face.

Toriel mocked a surprised gasp, "Oh Sans! I didn't know you were sleeping here, I hope I didn't wake you"

"Heh, well you know me Tori, I can make myself comfy anywhere, 's no problem at all…" he replied nervously, fully aware of the mischievous tone in her voice.

"Hmmm, well I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but Frisk and I made friends with a human recently…"

"A HUMAN?! You mean ANOTHER one like Frisk?!" Papyrus suddenly chimed in as he entered the living room.

"TWO humans actually, such lovely NEIGHBORS they are too. While you two were out buying GROCERIES and exploring the town, not only did they help us unpack but they invited us in for a spaghetti dinner too. We had such wonderful dinner conversation, one of them even mentioned how they MET someone while buying the ingredients. Funny how that happens, don't you think SANS?"

"...well shit" Sans thought, keeping his mouth shut (metaphorically speaking) as he could feel both Toriel and Frisk burning holes into the back of his head.

"WOWIE! Humans who are not only kind to Queen Toriel and our human, but possess an affinity for spaghetti as well?!" Papyrus piped in, unable to read the tension in the air, "COME BROTHER! We must go and greet these wonderful humans and give our thanks in addition to properly introducing ourselves!" Papyrus continued as he lifted Sans off of the couch.

"GET UP LAZYBONES! WE MUST MAKE HASTE! We shall not-"

"Wait Paps! I-I don't think-" Sans interrupted, as he attempted to stop Papyrus from pushing him towards the door.

"No Sans, we cannot wait any longer! We must go and-"

Toriel's coughing caught Papyrus' attention now as Sans suddenly fell backwards, no longer fighting the opposing force of Papyrus' strength.

"I'm sorry Papyrus, but we cannot visit them at the moment, _ must take the remaining day to finish a project of theirs so we must not disturb their work. Perhaps another time I can acquaint you two, or at least you," Toriel stated, shooting a sly look at Sans before turning back to Papyrus.

"...yes Your Majesty" Papyrus lamely replied, disappointment apparent in his tone.

"Don't worry my child, you now have something to look forward to tomorrow" Toriel cooed, patting Papyrus back affectionately as he perked up a bit before disappearing into the kitchen.

"...you really know how to rattle my skull Tori..." Sans stated lamely, not moving from the floor at all.

"It's one of my many skill sets as former queen of the Underground" she simply replied, smirking before retreating to the kitchen as well.

Frisk walked over to Sans, kneeling beside his face before giving his cheek bone a poke and grinning at him a smile that only Sans has worn many times before. Sans closed his eyes and sighed before resigning to defeat.

"You guys got me good, kiddo"


	8. Ch 8: Knock Knock

_Hello to all of my lovely bones! Can I call you guys that? I hope it's ok, I'm trying to come up with a term of endearment for all of you wonderful readers here so far, so review or message me if you have any suggestions or feedback for the story, love you guys! -Iggy_

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You unlock the apartment and let yourself in, checking your pockets one last time that you had everything: keys? Duh. Phone? Got it. Wallet? Yup, that's all of it. Seriously though, you always wondered why girls bothered with carrying purses when you only need the bare necessities on you (though it does help if your pants are baggy enough to have large pockets). You let out a tired sigh as you quickly grab some clean clothes from your room before hitting the shower. Once you were out, you took this moment to quickly sweep around the apartment, mentally checking that you were indeed alone for the afternoon. Despite the jean shorts you're sporting, you toss on your favorite red hoodie and plop yourself on the couch before contemplating your next move. Although you did tell Toriel and Frisk that you had a project that needed to be worked on, you're not even sure how to get it started. I mean, the Fall semester hasn't started yet, so it's not really homework, but your professor did ask that favor of you, so it had to be ready by the time school started, and just thinking about it made you anxious (point made as you adjusted your glasses out of nervous habit).

You continued to knock your brain around for some inspiration when you heard your phone play a few music box notes of "For the First Time in Forever". You lazily grabbed it from the coffee table and took one glance at the screen before accidentally dropping it on the carpet floor. You hastily grabbed your phone again, making sure you were reading the name correctly, "' **Bone Man' Sans** " flashing on your screen. Feeling your heart quicken its pulse, you nervously opening up the text message. "hey" was all it said, you honestly didn't know what you were expecting considering he didn't message you since you met at the grocery store, but you were hoping that maybe he would've said a bit more than that. Especially considering that you're barely hearing from him now, you just figured that he simply forgotten about you or quickly lost interest just like other people before him, but this simple text obviously meant otherwise.

Realizing that you were already overthinking things in your head, you sent a quick "hi" back, geez could you be any more lamer than that? You could've at least been more polite about it, maybe throw in a "how're you doin'?" or something of the sort. You continued to berate yourself until you heard the magical notes play again. This time you opened it quickly and read the text "how are you?", groaning out loud in frustration, this was becoming too vague and generic for you to work with, it was hard for you to talk to people outside of your usual "How can I help you today?" stuff at work, let alone for you to be able to move comfortably in a conversation. Wishing that Laurén would miraculously show up soon to help you, you decided to somewhat steer the conversation into something.

"Doing alright, just finished work not long ago, what about you?"

Not realizing you were holding your breath, you let out a relieved sigh when he replied back.

"That's cool, I'm babysitting right now. Was it a tough day?"

Babysitting? Whoa, now you were curious, and truly relieved that you guys have something to talk about for the time being as the tension in your body was starting to slowly melt back into the couch.

"Not really, it was pretty slow today, plus some friends of mine came to visit, so that was nice" Gawd, you hoped it didn't sound like you were already rambling…

"That's good to hear, sounds like you had fun"

Heh, if only he knew…

"Yeah, just a little bit, ha"

Meanwhile, Sans was on the other line, lying on the couch like before as Frisk kept busy with their coloring books, using Goofy as a pillow. He thought about whether to tease you about your CHILLING performance today, surely there were a few good puns he could get out of it, but then decided against it. Sans just sent you a text after Toriel and Frisk finished teasing him, realizing that he didn't even say hello after your first encounter (seriously, how much of a numb skull could he be?), hoping that perhaps there would be a small chance of seeing you again. Granted, as much as he "appreciated" seeing you at the door, he was anxious to get to know you and understand you better. If he revealed that he had that video of you from today, well obviously that would become a huge red flag for you, and he didn't want to scare you more than what he already did that day in the ketchup aisle.

"Wanna have more fun? Knock Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Woo"

"Woo who?"

"Don't get so excited kid, it's just a joke"

It took you a moment before you realized what the punchline was, and when you did you started giggling, it reminded you of the kind of knock knock jokes you used to hear in elementary school.

"XD haha, good one but I have one for you. Knock knock"

This surprised Sans, sure his pasta pun was what helped to break the ice in the first place, but he didn't think that it would work a second time, let alone for you to reciprocate with one of your own. "Heh, this outta be good" he muttered out loud as he replied right away.

"Who's there?"

"Annie"

"Annie who?"

"Annie thing you can do, I can do better ;)"

You reflexively sent the text before your brain could process the winking emoji you added in. Oh fuck, what the hell did you just do?! You started to pull on your hood again, hoping that he doesn't take the winking emoji out of context or think anything of it when you heard your phone go off.

"...is that a challenge I'm sensing from you? ;)"

You could couldn't help but laugh, my goodness you were hoping he didn't think that you were flirting with him, but a knock knock challenge? Well, you didn't like to lose after all…

"Take it as you will, but I'll have you know I remember some good ones from back when I was a kid"

"Oh really? In that case, you can go first"

"Such a gentleman haha, knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Boo"

"Boo who"

"I know it's bad, but you don't have to cry about it"

Sans has heard this joke before, but he couldn't help but snicker as he quickly wrote back. Meanwhile, Sans' snicker got Frisk's attention as they looked up from their coloring to see Sans occupying himself with his phone. It didn't take them long to realize that Sans was actually texting you, from the way his cheeks were tinged with blue and his pupils were glowing a bit brighter than usual. With that information, Frisk formed a sly smirk as they decided to take out their own phone.

"A classic, good choice. Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Alice"

"Alice who?"

"Alice fair in love and war"

"That was a clever one, I liked it :D Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Nobel"

"Nobel who"

"Nobel, that's why I knocked"

Sans stifled his laughter by holding his arm up to his mouth, trying to calm himself enough to text out his next joke.

Immediately you opened the text as it was about to ring, when you were thrown off by the words in the text message.

" **You have him tearing up in laughter** "

The hell? The phone number was shown on the top but not from anyone in your contacts list. It didn't look like a familiar area code, so you decided to check if it belonged to anyone you knew.

"Hi, do I know you?"

Just as you sent the text, another one showed up, this time from Sans.

"Never heard that one before, that's a good one. Knock Knock"

"Who's there?"

You just pressed the send button when a reply from the unknown person showed up

" **It's Frisk** "

…..the kid had a phone?! You didn't get your own cellphone until you were 15 years old, but this kid already owns one?! Putting your astonishment aside for the moment, you had to wonder what the heck Frisk was talking about in the first text.

"Hey kiddo, what did you mean? Who is laughing?"

The phone went off again just as you sent the message, only to receive one again from Sans.

"Figs"

"Figs who?" A text from Frisk showed up again as you sent your message to Sans before reading the new text from Frisk.

" **Sans, he's laughing really hard right now. Idk why, but I'm pretty sure it's because of you** "

Sans?! Frisk knows Sans?! How? Well, whatever the case may be, it would make sense since Sans did say he was babysitting, but still, who knew that Frisk and Sans knew one another?! You reread the text before realizing what Frisk had just told you: Sans was laughing, because of _you_. Normally you were not a naturally funny person, aside from the occasional pranks you would pull on Laurén and certain family members, but this guy that you just started texting with, found your lame and childish knock knock jokes funny enough to supposedly start "tearing up" in laughter. You couldn't help but feel proud that you were winning this challenge, and well, a bit happy that someone finds you funny enough to appreciate the jokes for what they were.

You didn't realize it, but a goofy grin took hold of your features as you replied to Frisk

"Thanks buddy, we're having a knock knock joke contest, so I guess it means I'm winning"

Just as you finished replying, you received a text from the bone man himself

"Figs the doorbell, it's broken"

You laughed at that one, a snort or two accidentally escaping as you tried to fan yourself with your hoodie sleeve to calm yourself.

"I got a good laugh from that one lol, but I have one that can go well with it. Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Theodore"

"Theodore who?"

"Theodore won't open, it's stuck!"

This time, Sans couldn't hold it in as he started to laugh in a way that no one has heard him before. Frisk, who had their camera at the ready, started recording and smiling happily, knowing too well that all this laughter was from far more than simple knock knock jokes. Papyrus' voice interjected from his room suddenly, causing Sans to stop momentarily.

"SANS? Why are you laughing so much brother? Is everything ok?!"

Sans then continued to snicker, a snort slipping out before he was able to reply

"Yeah Paps, I'm fine, just reading some new knock knock jokes, wanna hear one?"

Screaming could be heard from Papryus' room before he retorted "NO! I've had enough of your jokes for a millennia Sans!" before slamming his bedroom door. Sans just chuckled, wiping away a tear before turning his attention to Frisk.

"Hey kiddo, if you don't erase that video right now, I guarantee that you're gonna have a bad time" he threatened, as his left eye disappeared, his right eye glowing a fiery blue and sporting a menacing smile. Speckles of sweat on their forehead, Frisk immediately stopped recording and deleted the video, a nervous yet stoic look on their face as they gave Sans a thumbs up to confirm that the video has indeed be deleted. Content with this response, Sans turned his attention back to the phone, not realizing that although Frisk deleted the video, they did so after sending the video to you.


	9. Ch 9: Hey

_Hello my lovely bones! As of this update, I have a total of 52 followers! That is seriously incredible, and I thank you all for enjoying my story thus far 3 This next chapter is pretty long so I hope you enjoy it until I can finish my summer class! As usual, please review or message me on tumblr (artbyiggy), any feedback you may have on the story, it makes my day to see your reviews!_

 _-Iggy_

* * *

You laid on your stomach, watching the screen anxiously as you attempted to make yourself more comfortable on the couch. Just as you were starting to think that your last joke had crossed the cheesy line, you phone went off. You immediately unlock your screen, only to find that it's another text message from Frisk. You open it up to find a short video, the thumbnail was blank but you decided to open it and play it anyways, it is from Frisk after all. The video starts playing and you see that it's none other than the bone man himself, lazily lying on the couch and smiling at his phone before exploding in laughter. You feel yourself biting your lower lip despite the corners of your mouth straining to smile as wide as it possibly can, your cheeks feeling so warm as you suddenly felt butterflies in your stomach. All of these feelings, from hearing one simple yet wonderful laugh, how was this even possible? You barely met him once not to long ago, yet here you are getting flustered from the sound of-was that a snort just now?! Too. Fricking. Adorable. You then hear a loud voice in the background calling out for Sans, of which the video then cuts off, wonder who that was? Wait, didn't he mention having a brother at the store? Could be him, but then again you've never heard a voice that loud before, so who knows?

You decided to sit up and replay the video, starting up those butterflies again when a voice behind you asks, or rather screams "Is that your boyfriend?!" You screamed and reflexively tossed your phone in the air, stumbling to catch it in your hands before you finally got a good grip. You turned around to find Laurén standing behind the couch, her apparent death grip on said couch, big smile and wide, attentive eyes showing withheld excitement. With an annoyed, yet embarrassed look, you asked "What makes you think I have a boyfriend?"

"He's totally your boyfriend" Laurén grinned smugly, standing up straight before grabbing the duffel bag off the floor. Her messy ponytail and sweat drenched outfit made it obvious that she just returned from the local gym as she walked into the hallway and tossed the bag onto her bed through the door before making her way back to you.

"He is not my boyfriend" you replied lamely, startled a bit when your phone went off.

"Oh my gosh, are you TALKING to him right now?!" Laurén shrieked, as she snatched your phone out of your hand before you could even say or do anything. "'Bone Man Sans'? What the hell kind of name is that? That's just fucking weird, I really hope he's not trying to take you to the bone zone cause I swear I'll-"

"Laurén, dude, can you chill for a minute here?!" You practically yelped as you suddenly stood up, feeling offended that she was already making accusations of Sans. "And give that back, last time I checked it was MY phone bro" you replied as you grabbed it out of her hands.

"Sorry, you're right, I shouldn't have intruded like that, but I just… AHHHHH! I'm so excited for you!" she squealed as ran in place a bit before gripping you in a tight hug. She just got back from the gym, how the hell does she still have energy after all that time there. Wait…

"Hey, what time is it?" you asked as you broke the embrace, hands still on her shoulders.

"Um, around 6pm, why?" she answered as you rand a hand through your bangs.

"Are you serious?! I was supposed to work on my dance and i didn't even come up with a song yet!" you yelled, suddenly pacing back and forth, stress hitting you in full force and you gently bit your lower lip.

"Calm down man, you still have a good amount of time. Now I know I'm not much help with this dance stuff, but what about asking Frisk or Toriel for help? Maybe you could get some inspiration from them." Laurén suggested.

You stopped your pacing and pondered the thought before another interrupted it. "Don't you think it's a bit late though? I don't wanna bother them..., I mean Frisk is still a kid after all, what if their bedtime is at, like, 8pm and Toriel is one of those moms who's a stickler for bedtimes.." you asked, reminiscing about how strict your mom used to be with going to sleep on time as a child.

"True, but it's still daylight right now, plus it's not THAT late, I don't think an hour spent over there or here would be such a bother, unless they're doing something important of course," she laughed before lightly slapping your shoulder and started heading back to her bedroom. "I'm gonna take a quick 5 minute bath so just give me a knock on the door if you decide to bring them here, I don't wanna saunter in all soaking wet or anything" Laurén joked as she did a sexy walk into her room for emphasis. You just chuckled and rolled your eyes before realization hit you that you didn't open your text from Sans.

"Good one. Hate to cut it short but the battery is gonna die soon, talk later?"

You couldn't help but feel sad and rejected, and that hateful voice in the back of your mind was already coming up with so many irrational "what if's" but you cast it all aside and started to reply back.

"Understandable, to be continued then" was all you said, though you were already regretting sending that text, wondering whether he realized that it was a gaming thing or just thinks you're weird for saying that now. Walking up to the bathroom, you knock on the door, the noise of running water almost drowning out Laurén's voice.

"Yes?"

"I'm heading out to Toriel's place now, I'll do my code knock if company is over"

"Sounds good, good luck with getting help!"

"Thanks!" you called out before checking your pockets for your phone and keys and heading out the door.

Standing in front of Toriel's door, you nervously run your hand through your long bangs (you have a nervous habit of doing that too, huh?) and you were about to knock before you heard a familiar voice.

"_! Hello little one!" Toriel called as she walked down the hall, a small bag of groceries in tow.

"Oh! Hello Miss Toriel!" you replied as you met her halfway. "Would you like for me to get that for you?" you asked, pointing at the bag of groceries.

"Oh, there is no need to, but I do appreciate the gesture dear," Toriel replied kindly as the two of you walked back to the door. "So what brings you over? Have you finished your project already?"

"Honestly, no," you replied sheepishly, rubbing your arm, "that's why I came by, I'm having a hard time getting ideas so I was hoping maybe you or Frisk could help with some suggestions" you asked while Toriel rummaged through her purse for the keys again.

"Oh of course, we'd love to help! Oh, but wait-" Toriel stopped, glancing nervously at the door before looking back at you. "Erm, before we go in, I must ask if you are ok with me introducing you to some of our other members of the family, they are staying with us until they can find decent work and a place of their own"

You felt yourself sweating nervously, and it was apparent on Toriel's face that it's noticeable, but you didn't want to be rude just standing there either. You sucked in a quick breath of air before letting it out to blow your bangs out of your face. "Well if they're as nice as you and Frisk are, then I have no problem with it at all!"

Toriel looked relieved as she turned to unlock the door, but turned back suddenly before rummaging through the grocery bag and turning back to you, her closed hand stretched out to you. "Before I forget, I saw this at the grocery store and thought of you. I got one for Frisk and your friend as well, I hope you like it" before opening her outstretched hand. In her palm was a small and cute looking hair barrette with a rubber skull on it.

"Aw this is so sweet of you, thank you so much Miss Toriel," you replied as you graciously accepted the gift from her hand to further inspect the small barrette.

"Do you mind if I put it on for you? You seem to be having trouble with your bangs at the moment" she asked, smiling a bit mischievously at your attempt to keep the bangs out of your face with one hand and hold the barrette to your face with the other. You smiled abashedly, nodding your head appreciatively as you hand back the barrette. Toriel gently moved your bangs out of the way for you and put the clip in place before brushing your hair a little bit with her hands and taking a step back to look at you. "I knew it, it suits you well" she stated as she smiled before turning to unlock the door. It had been a while since you heard a genuine compliment, and you couldn't help but feel happy, a familiar love once again of your own mother.

Not opening the door all the way, Toriel peeked into the apartment to find Frisk curled up on Sans' lap as they sat on the floor watching tv.

"Hey Tori," Sans welcomed as Frisk smiled happily, signing "welcome back" to Toriel.

"Hello everyone, where's Papyrus? I wish to introduce you two to a friend of ours

"Oh yeah?" Sans said lamely, a small hint of curiosity in his voice as he got up once Frisk jumped off to meet Tori at the door.

As Sans called Papyrus down the hall, Toriel quickly opened the door a bit more, revealing yourself to Frisk as they squealed excitedly before running into you for a hug.

"Are you sure you're ok with this? I couldn't help but notice that you get...nervous around others" Toriel asked gently as you pulled away from your hug, Frisk now content to hold your hand.

Debating on whether to explain in detail about your anxiety, you felt a small squeeze from Frisk's hand before simply stating "If they are anything like you and Frisk, then I'm sure I'll be alright" gently squeezing Frisk's hand back and reassuring Toriel with a small smile. The monster queen took that as confirmation as she decided to open the door all the way, allowing you to follow Toriel inside with Frisk by your side as they closed the door behind you. You stood by the kind goat humanoid, standing in the living room area as you started to shift closer and slightly behind her before you felt Toriel's arm hugging your shoulders in comfort. The hallway for the rooms were a bit dark but you could hear steps coming closer. Stepping into the light was a tall skeleton dressed in an outfit not like anything outside of an anime or video game, the blue shorts hugging his pelvis and highlighted by yellow, his white chest piece(?) and shoulders accentuating his large chest frame, complimented by his red gloves and matching red boots. To you, he looked like someone who not only enjoyed cosplay but could also intimidate you and choke you to death with the boxer red scarf around his neck, despite his fragile looking frame. All in all, he was definitely scary, and you could feel yourself sweating nervously, feeling sorry for Frisk who is still holding your now sweaty hands, and wondering if you forgot to put on deodorant when you got out of the shower.

"Look Sans, A HUMAN!" he spoke loudly, his familiar voice startling you as Toriel held you in place, now rubbing circles on your shoulder with her hand in an attempt to comfort you more.

"Of course there is bro, Frisk lives here you know," another familiar voice replied, though you couldn't see him from where you were standing.

"SANS! Not OUR human, a NEW one!" the skeleton exclaimed with an exasperated tone.

"Papyrus, dear, this is our neighbor and new friend _. _ this is Papyrus, a very close family friend of ours" Toriel introduced, her hand shifting from your left shoulder to your right.

You wipe your hand on your shorts before offering it meekly to Papyrus. "I-it's nice to meet you" you said loud enough for him to hear, surprised once Papyrus takes your hand into both of his and shakes it vigorously.

"It is a pleasure to meet you small human! I, the Great Papyrus, am so happy to meet a new friend!" he proudly proclaims before letting go of your hand. You couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, your scary image of him taking a complete 180 turn. "Sans! Don't be such a lazy bones and come greet our new guest!". Papyrus spoke as he turned to look behind him, revealing to you none other than the "bone man" himself, wearing the same outfit he wore at the grocery store, save for his jacket being unzipped to reveal a black shirt with what looked to be a childish looking crossbones image with the words "Bad to the Bone" around it. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed and his smile stretched out in a lazy grin before he made little effort to push himself off the wall and stand up. "Sup kid? The name's S-" he cut off as his outstretched hand fell a bit, his eyes completely locked on yours just as you were with him: cue the magical, lovey-dovey, pink anime background and matching music. Although you have dated in the past, you had never experienced a moment like this where the world seemed to have melt away and all you could see is that special someone in front of you, the butterflies flying sporadically in your stomach again as you felt pink in the face. Your nerves wanted to avert your eyes but you couldn't help but feel a magnetic attraction to him, words seemingly useless as these feelings were swirling everywhere inside you.

Finally, Sans decided to be the first to break the ice, though the tension didn't change as he closed one of his eyes in a wink, a charming smile changing his lazy vibe as he just greeted you with a small "hey," as he walked over towards you.

"H-hey" you replied, your brain not cooperating well with you as you meekly waved at him, your goofy, crooked, smile out for show, until he was close enough that you could smell what could only be described as a unique musk with a hint of tomato sauce, sending your brain into a frenzy.

"I didn't think I'd see you so soon, not that i'm complaining..." Sans trailed off, his eyes giving you a once over before connecting his gaze with yours again.

"Ah, uh, I-I didn't realize you were living here…" you stuttered, his attention on you made it hard to form coherent thoughts into sentences. "I j-just assumed you were taking care of Frisk at your own place, or maybe you had left already..." you nearly whispered, tearing your eyes away from Sans in favor of your feet, feeling mortified that you couldn't come up with anything better to say without sounding so stupid. A skeletal hand then comes into your view as you venture a glance at Sans, his smile never changing and his eyes staring at you with something warm that you can't seem to identify.

"Sorry if my brother startled you, he can be a bit too enthusiastic for people to handle" Sans continued, his hand still in place for you to shake. You gently grab it, electricity surging through you at the initial contact.

"You don't have to apologize, it's actually a relief to see him so friendly, I normally get nervous meeting new people…" you replied, now feeling calm until Sans took a step closer to you, your heart pumping like crazy in your chest. Something in his eyes changed from that warm feeling to something a bit darker, though it wasn't that of evil intent, rather it seemed to draw you in even more.

"Are you nervous with me?" Sans asked, his voice slightly deeper, as he continued to hold your hand in his. You were now officially frozen in place, pleading for your mind to come up with some sort of action or reply to his question; the only thing you could feel now was your rapid pulse, the heat now radiating from your entire body, and an uncomfortable feeling building up beneath your stomach.

The atmosphere was broken as soon as an awkward cough was heard from Toriel, her eyes refusing to meet your eyes or Sans', a blush peeking from her cheeks. Sans felt a tug on his jacket, with all attention now on Frisk as they were blushing but grinning excitedly as they signed away at Sans.

 **Now KISS!**

You felt a pang of sadness from your inability to read sign once Toriel began to laugh and Sans started to turn blue in the face. He quickly let go of your hand and backed up in a more comfortable distance. Hands in the pockets of his jacket now, Sans started to profusely apologize as small sweat drops started to form on his skull.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I hope I didn't scare you, I was just joking and, oh geez that was terrible, I'm so sorry I really didn't mean to put you in an awkward position I, I just-...I'll be back" he lamely concluded as he quickly made his way back to the hallway, presumably his room.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Papyrus just stood there completely lost, completely unaffected by the romantic atmosphere that was there a moment ago. "Do you..know my brother?" he asked curiously, unsure if it was appropriate to continue the greetings or not.

"Huh?" you dumbly responded, you gaze was on the dark hallway where Sans entered through as you were lost in anxious thoughts on whether you did something to offend him to make him react the way he did. "Oh! Sorry, um, yes, we met at the grocery store when I was buying ketchup" you continued, taking another quick glance at the hallway before giving your full attention to the remaining people in the room.

"I can't believe Sans didn't tell me that he made a human friend! I want to make friends too!" Papyrus cried in a dramatic manner, he is definitely quite the character….

"Would you care to sit down for a drink? Perhaps you can explain more to us about your project?" Toriel offered as she gestured to the small table next to the kitchen area.

"A project? Wowie! Can I help as well human?" Papyrus asked, his eyes practically sparkling with excitement just like a child.

"Sure thing, I'll take all the help I can get" you replied with a small smile on your face. Everyone but Toriel walked to the table as the queen started to brew some delicious smelling tea. As you were approaching one of the chairs, Papyrus rushed to your side and pulled the seat out for you, thanking him for the gesture as you sat and got help from him to scoot closer to the table, to which he then did the same for Frisk before taking his own seat. By this time, Sans had emerged and took a seat between you and Papyrus, of which you gave a small wave and a gentle smile. Sans returned a shy smile back, and looked like he was about to say something when Toriel showed up with hot cups of tea for everyone but Sans.

"Welcome back Sans, would you like a cup of tea as well?" Toriel asked sweetly as she placed the first mug in front of you. It smelled like nothing you could recognize, but it did have a sweet aroma to it, and that was enough to convince you that the tea would taste as good as its scent.

"No thanks Tori, think I'm just gonna have my usual" Sans replied, making himself comfortable at the table by slouching over, his head resting on one arm.

"I figured as much" Toriel chuckled as she pulled a ketchup bottle from the fridge and placed it in front of Sans. Before you could make any guesses as to what the ketchup was for, Sans grabbed it and took 3 large gulps from the bottle before putting it back down. Well, guess that explains the tomato scent from earlier. Once Toriel got one last cup of tea and situated herself at the table, she then began the group discussion. "Dear child, please tell us about your project and what we can do to help?" Toriel started, as all eyes now fell on you.

"Project? What kind of project?" Sans asked, curiosity evident on his face.

"It's not that big of a deal really; I'm registered for a dance class this coming semester, and I know the professor teaching it, so before school ended last spring, she asked me to come up with a small dance to present to the new students this term. I don't understand why she asked me to be honest, but I agreed to it anyhow, and now I'm having a hard time coming up with anything. I haven't even picked a song yet let alone choreography for it…" you explained.

"You dance? Well no wonder you were so good with your performance at the store, you are a wonderful dancer!" Toriel replied, clasping her hands together as if to contain some of her excitement at the revelation.

Blushing now, you humbly responded "Oh no, I'm not that good of a dancer, it's just something that I like to do for fun…."

"Well, you must put on quite the show if the professor asked you for this favor" Sans complimented, earning him a blush and a nervous chuckle from you in response.

"Either way, the summer is almost over and I haven't had any inspiration yet…I was hoping that perhaps I could have some recommendations?" you asked as one by one, everyone began to pitch ideas for music, a lot of which you were not familiar with (must be monster music from before they came to the surface). Music was discussed, and on occasion you were sidetracked with questions from Papyrus about you and your interests, jokes and pun banters exchanged between you and Sans, and you even danced a little bit with Frisk who left the table only to come back with a child-proof cd player and played an odd song* that weirded you out at first, but the simplicity of it all eventually got you following the beat as you two-stepped with Frisk and ended the song by spinning then carefully dipping the small child.

Before you knew it, time had passed and Toriel had already taken Frisk to bed, leaving you with the skelebros, which you chatted with for a good few more minutes until you decided that Toriel's lack of presence was your cue to leave. You said your goodbye to the skeletons, learning quickly that Papyrus can be quite affectionate when he caught you by surprise with a tight yet comforting bear hug. You opened the door to leave when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

"...you live nearby right?" Sans asked calmly.

"Uh, yeah, just two doors down" you replied, waiting patiently for Sans to continue speaking.

"Cool...can I walk you back?" he asked, his usual lazy expression remaining intact. Feeling your cheeks go pink again, you couldn't help but smile at his small chivalrous act, you don't know too many guys that act like real gentlemen nowadays, part of why you work hard to be one yourself.

"I'd like that" you smiled as he grabs the door handle from you and gestures for you to walk out first. The walk was silent, and when you get to the door, you put your hands in the pockets of your hoodie, an awkward silence hanging in the air before you grab the keys out of the right pocket.

"Right, well, I guess I should go inside and get some rest now, it was nice to see you again, and to meet Papyrus of course!" you hastily added, hoping that your confusing feelings were not too obvious to the comedic skeleton.

"Sure, but before you go inside," Sans started, his hands in the pockets of his jacket as well, "I just wanted to say, **tibia** honest with you, I-er-we had a nice time tonight. It's been a long while since I've seen Toriel and Paps enjoy themselves around new people, especially humans…" Sans stated, his grin seemed to falter at his words before continuing to speak. "Anyways, guess I'll be seeing you around a lot huh?"

"Yeah, well we are neighbors, so it'd be kinda hard to miss one another" you laughed a bit.

"Well you're not wrong," he chuckled, "but next time we see each other, maybe we could have a knock knock rematch. Your taste in jokes are quite **humerus** " It was a bit of a stretch, but you couldn't help but giggle at his pun before remarking with one of your own.

"Sure, I'd love to hear a **femur** from you"

"Heh good one, so until next time?"

"Next time" you reassured Sans before unlocking the door and leaving it slightly open.

"Goodnight" Sans said with a wave before walking back to Toriel's door

"Goodnight Sans" you replied back, waving at him before going inside the apt.

You walk it to find all the lights off, save for the light in the hallway, signaling that your roommate has already gone to bed. You head to your bedroom, filled with bubbly happiness that you never thought you'd feel since elementary school. You changed out of your hoodie and shorts in favor of an Adventure Time sleeveless shirt and some Mickey Mouse boxer shorts. You make yourself comfy in bed and contemplate all that has happened within the last 24 hours to lead up to Sans walking you home, feeling so happy, so safe, so...warm. You realize you have that goofy, crooked smile on your face again but it doesn't bother you in the least as you finally find a comfortable enough position to just lay down and think about your new friends, like Papyrus, Toriel, Frisk, and...Sans….

You feel sleep overcome your consciousness as the memory of Sans and his charming grin haunt your mind and follow you in your sleep.


	10. Ch 10: I'm Not in Love

_Welcome, my lovely bones, to another chapter update! I can never thank you all for the wonderful reviews and favorites! 64 followers as of this update, for reals this makes me so happy to know that you are following this story so closely and enjoying my writing this much :D It always makes my day everytime I get a new chapter review so thank you so much for all of the love! As always, please continue to send me any feedback that you may have to help improve my writing and if you wanna message me then you can reach me on tumblr at .com (idk if citing is allowed but I'll change it if needed). Again, thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

 _-Iggy_

Waking up this morning was unlike anything you ever experienced. For once, it didn't take you a good hour to fully comprehend your surroundings and thoughts, you just felt fully rested and, for lack of a better word, incredible! Nearly jumping out of bed, you tossed on a simple white tank top and distressed jean shorts (which were too short for you to comfortably wear in public) and went through your usual routine. Once you reached the living room area though, something seemed a little strange. Glancing at the microwave's clock, you realized you woke up earlier than usual, even earlier than your roomie as a matter of fact, so what now? "Make breakfast" your brain answers as your legs comply to walk towards the kitchen. Once the eggs finished cooking, you take a quick moment to open the door slightly in order to let the smoke and smell clear out before getting started on the pancake batter.

As you gather the ingredients, your thoughts start tracing back to your newly acquainted neighbors, particularly one small skeleton. How familiar is he with the surface world? Does he have a favorite music genre? What kind of hobbies does he have? Realization hit you; although you were able to exchange more than a few words with him, you didn't discuss anything that involved getting to know the sort of person he is. "Does he dance?" you brain asks before an image is brought up on an imaginary classic projector of Sans in a classy suit and tie, very befitting of the charismatic charm you had a taste of from last night. Offering you his hand, you gently take it before he leads you to an empty dance floor and a familiar song begins to play. The vocals are a bit muffled for you to understand, but it didn't matter so long as you could hear the beautiful orchestra. The surroundings began to blur as you and Sans locked eyes, effortlessly waltzing throughout the dance area, until you began to hear a voice in the distance. It didn't bother you at first, until it started to get louder and you could've sworn you heard it calling your name, who is-

"_!" Laurén shouted, magically appearing in front of you as a few blinks brought you back to your kitchen.

"H-hey girl, what's going on?" you numbly replied, your mind still trying to fully comprehend where exactly you are.

"I should be asking you that, why are you up this early? Also, if you're gonna be humming and swaying like that, could you at least try not to get the floor dirty? I don't wanna clean more than I have to ok?" she lightly giggled, pointing near your feet where some pancake batter was splattered.

"Oh, sorry," was all you managed to say as you carefully put the bowl and whisk on the counter before grabbing some paper towels for the mess. "Wait, so I was humming?" you asked as you were cleaning the floor.

"Yeah, I have never seen you so out of it like this before, you were singing that song from Cinderella, you know: the one they play when she's dancing with the Prince? You were 2-stepping also, your bowl held by you hip with one hand and your whisk was in the other, like if you were holding a dress" she laughed as she did a small imitation of you.

"Oh," was all you could muster, focusing on the floor as you fought to hide your embarrassment, sure you had your daydreams here and there but it never got THIS bad before, and of ALL times someone had to see it happen too. Oh well, it could've been worse you suppose.

"So what's going on? Did something happen last night?" Laurén asked, and as if speaking the secret phrase from a gameshow, you grow a bit stiff as your fought the oncoming blood flow that was sure to show on your face. "Oh~ So something did happen, was it your boyfriend?" she snickered a bit as you sharply inhaled some air before tossing the paper towels and washing your hands. "No way, did I guess right? Ahhhhh you have to tell me everything!" she squealed, shaking you a bit as you attempted to dry your hands and continue working on those pancakes.

"...he's not my boyfriend" you muttered before Laurén's grin grew larger than that of the Chesire Cat's and sat at the small table, biting her lower lip before patting the chair next to her. Rolling your eyes, you pour the pancake batter into the maker and turned it to start its timer before taking your awaited seat. Laurén continued to stare anxiously at you, her expression unchanging before you gave in and sighed before explaining what happened with everyone last night. "..so he walked me to the door, bid me goodnight, and that was about it" you finished, setting the plates of pancakes and eggs on the table at this point, Laurén taking a quick bite of her egg before responding.

"Aww you're boyfriend is a gentleman after all!"

"I told you, he's not my boyfriend," you pouted, smothering your eggs with ketchup before attacking your breakfast as well

"Whatever you say" she winked before the both of you fell in a comfortable silence, content with your food.

As Laurén collected your dishes, she reminds you of the agreed chores for the week before heading out to her job, leaving you alone to figure out your day. You only needed to dust the living room area and mop the kitchen floor, so the only way to help the time go by is to let music dictate your workflow. Bluetooth all setup, you let the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 album play, bobbing your head to the "Oohga Chagga" chant as you quickly swept the small kitchen area. By the time the sweeping was done, you were already dancing and singing along, improving the mop as a microphone when combining the cleaning chemicals in the bucket. "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways was well into their melody (whoops, accidentally left it on shuffle) when you opened the door nearly halfway to ventilate the smell of the chemical concoction, and once the mopping was done, you were dusting and singing to David Bowie.

It wasn't until you were nearly done with the dusting and playing your air guitar solo did you hear snickering nearby. You didn't think it was possible to feel hot and cold at the same time, yet here that feeling was when you turned your head to the door and found Sans leaning lazily against the open door frame, an amused smirk on his face and an almost impish gleam in the pinpricks of his eye sockets. "Having a good time?" he asked, the mischievous tone reflecting said nature of his expression.

A deer caught in headlights, frozen in fear and yet a huge urge to run into your bedroom, only the dust rag managed to free itself from your hand and some strained sounds from your mouth before Sans decided it was safe to take a few steps inside the apt, his look now filled with concern of your well being. "You alright there kiddo? Didn't mean to break up the act, just thought I would finally make myself known, though I thought your air guitar was totally rockin'" he commented with a wink and finger gun gesture.

Finding feeling in your body again, you nervously laughed at his pun and gesture before quickly picking up the rag from the floor. Feeling shy again, your cheeks flush red and unable to look at Sans directly, you turn to finish dusting before realizing you were forgetting your manners. "OH! Um feel free to make yourself comfortable, and uh, s-sorry you had to see that just now…" you trailed off, not wanting to make things even worse for yourself as you turned back to the chore at hand.

"I'm not," Sans remarked, and before you could comprehend his statement, he wandered towards the bluetooth speaker and pondered on the music. "What music is this?"

"Oh, I'm just playing the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack" you replied as you tossed the rag into a nearby trash can.

"Never heard of them" he replied casually, shrugging for emphasis before turning his head and nearly snorting at you. You looked a lot like that picture of the cat who seemed to be offended by a human's sneeze that Frisk and Papyrus came across, and once again you didn't move for a moment before continuing to put away all the cleaning supplies except the bucket of dirty mop water.

"You mean you never heard of the music groups playing the music or you never heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie?"

"Um, both honestly" Sans replied, the brow of an eye socket quirked up nervously as if he was walking on thin ice over something potentially important to human culture.

"Wow! You are really missing out!" you laughed a bit, making a quick "hold on" gesture with your hand before taking the bucket to dump the dirty water into the shower. Once you came back and put the bucket away in it's place, you turned to stand in front of Sans with purpose before looking down at the ground, one hand holding your chin and your expression deep in thought before turning back to Sans. "Well, I honestly don't know where to start..." you chuckled nervously, and as if on cue, the next song begins to play.

"What song is this?" Sans asked, looking around the speaker as if hoping for words to pop out and answer his question.

Walking towards the kitchen to grab you phone, you answered "'Fooled Around and Fell in Love' byyyy…" you trailed off before you finally reached for the phone and pushed a button, the information flashing on the screen. "..by Elvin Bishop. I don't know too much about his music personally, but I think he has a couple of other songs that were good during the 70s" you concluded, making you way back as Sans nods his head in understanding. The both of you just stood by the speaker, listening to the lyrics of the song before Sans decided to break the silence.

"So, uh, you dance right?" Sans asked, though if you were paying attention you would've noticed the nervous undertone of his voice.

"Heh, kinda," you chuckled, your eyes still glued to the speakers as you unconsciously began to sway to the rhythm of the music. "I like dancing, but I don't have plans to make it like a day job or anything like that-" you laughed, allowing it to be a reminder of your reason for visit last night.

"Can you show me?" Sans interrupted, startling you with his question rather than the interruption itself. Looking at him, your surprised expression still in place, you see him looking at you with that lazy yet charming look you remember seeing last night, except this time his cheekbones had a tint of blue (though you're pretty sure that's just from the lighting). Sans must've read your expression as that of confusion because he then elaborated on his question, "Can you teach me how to dance? To this kind of music?" before offering his hand for you to take.

Your mind racing as much as your heart is beating now, you nodded your head at him before allowing him to take your hand and taking a step closer to him. "O-ok, well um, there are different dance moves for different types of music genres, but for a slow song like this, we can j-just, um, do a simple two-step" you explained, gesturing for Sans to give you his other hand to your free hand. "So for the lead, who is usually male, you position your hands on the other person like this," you continued, silently sucking in a breath as you laid one of his hands on your hip and the other one up with yours, "and the person who's following, usually female, will keep their hand up with the lead like how ours is, and put their other hand on the lead's shoulder." finished as you placed your hand on his shoulder.

"Now what?" Sans asked, prompting you to explain the next step, though he seems to be a bit nervous about the lesson from the way his grin seems to get a bit twitchy at times. Taking a mental breath, you calmed yourself enough to continue the explanation, it won't do any good if you make him nervous also…

"Well, now you just side-step along with the rhythm: the dancers can either dance in place or move themselves in a circle, though if you want we can just move in place until you're comfortable" you concluded as you demonstrated the steps. Sans watched and began to step awkwardly at first before finally finding the rhythm and dancing in sync with your steps. "You're doing good Sans" you complimented, having the confidence to look at him with an encouraging and proud smile.

Taken aback, Sans' face became more blue before smiling and turning his head to clear his throat(?) before speaking. "Uh, is there another way to dance more comfortably? Call me lazy but I think my arm is falling asleep already," he chuckled as he moved his arm with yours for emphasis.

You prayed that the closed curtains you were dancing nearby was enough shadow cover to hide your red cheeks as you decided to fight your growing nerves and be bold for once in your damn life! "Well I've seen one other way that people hold each other when dancing, it's a little more intimate though, so if you're not comfortable then just let me know and we can stop ok?" you explained, looking up at Sans for consent before doing anything else.

"Sure" Sans replied, shaking his head slightly before you began moving his hands in a new arrangement. This time, you moved both of his hands by your hips and placed your own hands around his neck, providing as much space between you both as possible. At this point, the song had changed to "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc and you were startled when Sans had slowly pulled you so close that your bodies were now against one another.

 _I like to see you, but then again_

 _It doesn't mean you mean that much to me_

 _So if I call you, don't make a fuss_

 _Don't tell your friends about the two of us_

 _I'm not in love, no no_

 _It's because~..._

Typically you would be a nervous, sweating wreck (and a part of your brain is reminding you of it), but you felt so strangely blissful and safe, and when you dared to look up at Sans, you find yourself once again drawn to him, unable to look away. For once you couldn't hear the logical voices in your head, muffled out by something else much stronger than reason, and you allowed it to dictate your actions. "Sans.." you nearly whispered, afraid to somehow ruin your current proximity to the skeleton monster.

"Yeah?" he whispers back, his hands boldly moving towards your back in a more comfortable embrace.

"...you know how to dance, don't you?"

Surprised at first, his usual smile turns crooked into a sly yet guilty grin when he chuckles "you caught me, what gave it away?"

"When you were first dancing, it wasn't awkward like how beginners are, it was more like someone who was rusty because they haven't danced in a long while"

"Heh, well you're not wrong" Sans agreed, shrugging his shoulders slightly as his cheekbones turned a shade of blue once again. There was a moment of silence before you decided to speak again.

"It's ok, I don't mind this at all" you spoke softly, daring to not care about whether he understood the true meaning behind your words.

The blue of his cheeks grew a bit darker, his smile happily goofy before his expression suddenly turned serious. There was an unexplainable tension as Sans' line of vision kept darting from you to a part of your face and back, and once again your strong feeling of, determination you suppose, decided that you should speak up about this.

"Is there something on my face?" you asked, concerned that perhaps you missed a ketchup spot from earlier.

"No," he lightly chuckled before pressing his skull against your forehead, his eyes closed as he let out a heavy sigh before continuing, "I want to ask you something, but I'm not sure how you would react to it"

"Go ahead, i'm pretty open-minded" you replied, holding in a mental breath at the words that might be said.

Sans merely opened his eyes, staring deep into yours, "are you sure about that?" he asks, his voice a deeper octave which sends pleasant shivers down your body, your eyes half-lidded as you shake your head in response.

Mirroring your expression, a swallowing motion was made before daring to speak as he finds himself inching closer to your face. "Can I -?"

Somewhat confused, you reply, "I'm sorry I didn't-", before you suddenly become devoid of all your senses and black overcomes your vision, San's arms holding you up before you become unconscious.

When you wake up, you find yourself laid out on the couch, head pounding. You smell a familiar aroma of tomato and musk, struggling to sit up without a sense of vertigo before you realize the scent is coming from the blue jacket laid on top of you. You look around your surroundings, attempting to detect any signs of a presence but to no avail. With your migraine still pounding, you check the time and decide to lie down and wait for Laurén to get back, pulling the jacket close and taking a deep breath before drifting back to sleep.


	11. Ch 11: Too Hot (Hot Damn!)

_Guess who's back?~_

 _I just want to thank you my lovely bones for being patient with me, I'm getting closer to graduating university and recently moved in with some friends, but I have not forgotten you all! As always, feel free to follow me on my tumblr (artbyiggy) and send me feedback! See you in the next update kiddos ;)_

 _-Iggy_

A few days had passed since you fainted, and although your roommate and neighbors have been kind enough to check on you upon hearing of the small event, it took a spaghetti dinner and a movie night of Wall-E to finally be reassured. Sans theorized that the fainting spell might've been from long exposure to the cleaning chemicals, and although a part of you didn't think that was necessarily the case, you decided to just accept it as the most likely answer. The dinner had some memorable highlights: most notably the out of character, quiet shyness that Papyrus was upon meeting Laurén. This lasted through most of the dinner and he didn't relax and return to his normal self until about 15 minutes into the movie.

Despite all of the worried madness, you still had Sans' blue jacket in possession; though it doesn't seem to matter considering how he came by with everyone wearing one almost identical but in a darker, navy blue color. A part of you also wondered during the movie on whether you should pull Sans aside and talk to him about the dancing, but you elected to instead push the matter aside and let him come to you about it if he felt it necessary.

The days of summer have passed and it was finally time for the first day of class. Donald Duck's voice was blaring as he yelled from your phone to wake up; not exactly how you pictured the cute alarm app to help you. You woke up 15 minutes earlier than necessary because as nerdy as it may be, you liked to dress to impress for the first day, and what better way than with a classy nerd outfit? Going through your usual morning routine, you found yourself dressed in dark grey slacks, a white collared ¾ sleeve with the sleeves rolled up to your elbow, an equally grey pinstripe fedora, all of it tied in together with a blood red tie. You don't have much confidence when it comes to fashion, but when you glanced at yourself in the mirror, you couldn't help but thank Laurén for helping you with the shopping and smile at how damn amazing you feel right now. With a flick of a finger, you tilt your fedora a bit and glow in your reflection before heading out the door, only to have your confidence zapped away the moment your hand touches the doorknob. You contemplate on whether you have time to change back until you remembered Sans' jacket in your bed. You quickly grab it, a sense of relief washing over you as you hurried to put it on before grabbing your school bag and finally head out to the campus grounds.

A few odd looks here and there, but thankfully none that lingered too long to drive your anxiety. In fact, despite a slight increase in monster students, you're doing amazingly well to not let the fear overwhelm you, choosing to focus on finding your art history class instead. As you turn the corner to where your favorite cafe area was located, you instantly recognize a certain small, skeletal figure sitting at one of the tables comfortably with a coffee in hand. Most of his back was facing you, so you beelined back behind the corner and struggled to take the jacket off: it'd be so embarrassing if he saw you wear it before returning it to him, especially at school. You made sure to stuff it good in your bag before turning the corner back towards the skeleton.

"Hey Sans!" You called out once you were close enough. The lazy bones turned his head in your direction, his usual lazy expression in place until his eye sockets grew, obviously wide awake once he took a look at you.

"Whoa" was all he could muster as you grabbed a seat beside him.

"What are you doing bone man? Didn't think I'd see you here, and so early too" you laughed, oblivious to Sans' roaming eyes as you put your bag on the floor by your feet.

"Uh, thought I'd check the campus out, see if there were any jobs available…" He replied, his eyes still large as he made a final mental once over before giving his full attention.

"Well it's barely the first day, so I'm sure there are plenty of positions available, though you'd have to hurry with the application process cause that can take FOREVER to get through," You commented, taking out your phone briefly to check the time before getting more comfortable in your seat. "So, have you started looking yet or are you just avoiding the unavoidable?" you chuckle at Sans, his grin growing a bit as he brings his drink to his face.

"Hmm, I wonder…" he replies without missing a beat before taking a sip and setting the drink back down. "Actually, looking around the campus, I've been thinking about-"

"_! Is that you?!"

The both of you turn to the interruption to find someone you thought to be a mere memory...


	12. Ch 12: Reunion

_Guess who's back?~_

 _I just want to thank you my lovely bones for being patient with me, I'm getting closer to graduating university but I have not forgotten you all! As always, feel free to follow me on my tumblr (artbyiggy) and send me feedback! See you in the next update kiddos ;)_

 _-Iggy_

The both of you turn to the interruption to find someone you thought to be a mere memory. Such a huge impact of emotions this was, you shot up so fast from the surprise that you ended up falling backwards into your seat and taking the chair down with you to the floor. Sans and the unknown stranger ran to your side, a few snickers and empathetic "Ooo"s heard from passing students.

"Oh my, are you alright darling?" the blonde woman asked, grabbing your fedora as Sans helped you back to your feet.

"I've been through worse," you muttered, dusting yourself off before taking the hat graciously, getting a better look at the blonde before you. "Is that really you Chloe?" you asked, still in disbelief. Chloe's hair was down in long, large, golden curls, her hair pushed back with a pair of white Michael Kors sunglasses, her lavender jacket complimenting her aqua crossover chiffon blouse, a pair of white capris and silver flats topped with small bows.

"The one and only!" she commented with a wink before hugging you and kissing both of your cheeks, leaving you a bit befuddled. Sans did not like this: something about this stranger felt eerily familiar, and he had a metaphorical gut feeling that he should keep this person away from you.

"I-I see that some things haven't changed huh?" you smiled, moving your glasses back in place.

"And I see that A LOT has changed for you dear," she smirked, allowing her eyes to roam over you, Sans' teeth clenched in place as he could feel his magic slowly brewing through his bones.

Clearing your throat to cover up your embarrassment, you change the subject, "So what brings you back home after all of these years? I haven't seen you since you moved away in 5th grade".

"Why university of course! I'm studying Fashion Design, and as you might know already, we have quite a good program for that here" she smiled proudly, the confidence she held was almost blinding.

"Ha, I shouldn't be so surprised, I remember those days playing 'dress-up': even back then you had more fashion sense then the average kid" you laughed lightly.

Chloe must've been caught off guard because she smiled sheepishly before returning back to her confident bravado, fixing up your shirt and getting a little _too_ close for Sans' liking. "Well I'd love to stay and chat, but I have an appointment with a potential client soon, which reminds me," she trails off, gliding her hand seductively down your tie before grabbing hold and pulling you dangerously close, "give me a call, we should catch up" she whispered before finally letting go, kissing a small card and slipping it between your collar and tie before sauntering off.

Speechless, you just stood staring after her, oblivious of nearby whispers like "damn, bro's got game", "whoa, did you see what she just did?" "man, some people get all the chicks". And oblivious to you, Sans magic was boiling, his eye glowing feverishly until you managed to break the silence and Sans' magic.

"That was weird," you commented, genuinely confused and cheeks slightly red as you pulled the business card out from its place and examined it briefly

"Yeah, weird.." Sans muttered sarcastically, staring in the direction where Chloe walked off as if she left a disgusting stench in her tracks.

"Oh hey, so what were you gonna say before?" you asked, attention on Sans as you started to gather your things for your first class.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I was just saying that I decided to go to school here, mind giving me a hand and help me out?" Sans winked as he offered his hand to take your backpack.

You couldn't help the smile that spread on your face as you allowed Sans to take the backpack from you. You felt so giddy at the prospect of being classmates with Sans, it'd give you a chance to practice and talk to him more on a one-on-one stance rather than when you are in your small group of friends. Wait, friends? Your smile softened as the realization of actually having and maintaining friendships with monsters made you realize how far you've already come in overcoming your phobia, you can't help but have a small sense of determination and hope that one day, that phobia wouldn't be such a handicap anymore..


End file.
